Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
58 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out violence by your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5 which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charm they ever so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually; when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in His wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 so that a man shall say, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God that judgeth on the earth.”
23 “How canst thou say, ‘I am not polluted; I have not gone after the Baalim’? See thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done. Thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways,
24 a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure. In her need who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou saidst, ‘There is no hope; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.’
26 “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed—they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets,
27 saying to a stock, ‘Thou art my father,’ and to a stone, ‘Thou hast brought me forth.’ For they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’
28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
29 “Why will ye plead with Me? Ye all have transgressed against Me,” saith the Lord.
30 “In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.
31 O generation, see ye the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? A land of darkness? Why say My people, ‘We are lords; we will come no more unto Thee’?
32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
33 Why readiest thou thy way to seek love? Therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
35 Yet thou sayest, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead with thee because thou sayest, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him with thine hands upon thine head; for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
7 Remember those who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God. Follow their faith, considering the outcome of their manner of living.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited those who have been occupied therewith.
10 We have an altar from which they have no right to eat, who serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
15 By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey those who have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they keep watch over your souls as ones who must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly.
19 But I beseech you the more earnestly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20 Now the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.